


Terrible Twos

by Higgies230



Series: Mismatched Family [19]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, Parent Ian Gallagher, Parent Mickey Milkovich, Parent-Child Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-02-07 10:40:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18618979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higgies230/pseuds/Higgies230
Summary: He couldn’t wait for the terrible twos stage to be over.





	Terrible Twos

  Ian had assumed- very, terribly wrongly he assumed- that girls were more pleasant when going through their first rebellion, the feared terrible twos. It was based on his experience with his three other children. It hadn’t been anything to do with having twins and a single child, individually each boy was much worse than their daughter. Manda had been a delight compared to her brothers and that was what he remembered even if it was twelve years ago now. But no, Zoey and Ava were evil. They were the devil, demons that had crawled up through the cracks of the Earth from Hell itself.

  This morning was just an example. Ian got up, ready to spend his free day with the girls, dreading it really because it wasn’t Mickey’s free day and that meant that Ian would have to deal with them alone. He used to love days with his daughters, now he could only look forward to the days when that would once more be the case after they had settled down again.

  The girls were already up when Ian entered, jumping around the room and giggling. They looked up and paused when they saw their dad enter but then squealed and scrambled away from him. Before, Ian had made the mistake of thinking that such a display was cute, the reality was that it meant Ian was going to have a nice challenge in getting them dressed.

  “Right girls, time to get dressed,” he said, voice deliberately firm, a voice that was meant to show he was not to be argued with. Of course this didn’t work.

  “No Daddy!” Ava cried out, stumbling slightly over a toy before continuing her climb up onto the bed.

  He and Mickey had learnt from experience what dressing them in the morning was like and had everything out and ready on the dresser. So, all he had to do was grab a child, grab a pile of clothes and set to. In theory. In practice it was grab a wiggling, squealing child while keeping the other from the door, trying to grab and not drop the clothes before battling sleep wear off and then try and get the wriggling, squealing child into clothes for the day.

  He’d done this with his twins back in the day, his boys who were no nineteen, who had moved into a two bedroom apartment with Danny. Ian could definitely use their help with the girls sometimes, all three of his other children were so good with the youngest Milkovich-Gallagher twins. But they weren’t and Manda was downstairs getting ready for school, his only hope was for Mickey to get to him from the shower.

  By the time his husband arrived Ian had managed to strip Ava of her pjs and wrestle on her t-shirt. At least the girls were potty trained and they didn’t need to mess around with nappies. The door opened and Ian glanced around to see his husband there with still damp hair and a smile as he greeted his youngest two.

  Mickey was a life saver in trying to get them dressed. He held them and Ian wrestled on the clothes, both girls crying and throwing a tantrum as they had done for the last few months. Finally, they were really, Mickey grabbing Ava and Ian grabbing Zoey to take them downstairs for breakfast.

  In his arms, Zoey settled, fists grabbing onto Ian’s shirt and little head leaned on his shoulder, Ava however continued to wriggle and protest in her papa’s arms.

  “Oi, just stop will you, we’re going to breakfast, just stop,” Mickey grumbled to the little girl, of course she didn’t listen.

  They sat the two of them down in their high chairs, Mickey putting in some toast for the girls and Ian some coffee for them. They had a few moments of peace before they would start again.

  At that moment, Manda came hurrying down the stairs with her bag slung over one shoulder, obviously ready to be gone for school. Their eldest daughter was fourteen now and she was growing into a very beautiful young woman. She had auburn hair and blue eyes, delicate features and skin that was surprisingly spot free for her age.

  “Bye Papa, bye Dad,” she smiled at them, coming up to each and giving a one armed hug, receiving a kiss on the head.

  “Bye troubles,” she smiled to her sisters, ruffling their hair and eliciting a giggle from Zoey.

  “Don’t even joke,” Ian huffed out good-naturedly.

  Breakfast after that was messy and only just finished by the time that Mickey had to leave for work. Ian offered him a strained smile as he put down the cloth that he was using to clean the girls in favour of seeing his husband off.

  He went to the door with him, kissing him and running a loving hand down his cheek as he did everyday to see him off, Mickey smiling at him in turn.

  “Have fun,” the bastard grinned.

  “Hey fuck off,” Ian snorted.

  “Well man, nice knowing you,” his husband said, pecking him on the lips one last time before turning for the door.

  “Haha, what a funny guy.”

  He got one last smirk over from over Mickey’s shoulder before he was gone out of the door and he was alone with the twins. With a sigh, the redhead went back to the kitchen and picked up the cloth to finish cleaning the girls.

  Bear moved around under the table, claws clicking on the floor and tongue cleaning up the fallen food. The dog was old, they had had him for the last ten years and he had been three when they had gotten him. There was grey around his previously black muzzle but he still acted like a puppy so Ian had hope that they would have him for a few more years.

  “Come on then you two, cartoons and play time,” he cooed, lifting Ava and then Zoey from their chairs.

  The two laughed and clung onto him, Ian sighing in relief. Cartoons were the best and most easy time of day, this could last until lunch, he could go for a run with Bear after Mickey got home and could look after the girls. Lunchtime would be the next real battle.

  Sure enough, things were calm enough until lunch which was again a battle and made Bear very happy. After that, they had energy and that meant running around the house like two mini tornadoes that Ian had to chase after and try to minimise destruction.

  Manda came home before Mickey but she had to go upstairs to do her homework, closed away in the safety of her room. Ian couldn’t wait for bed.

  Finally, finally, the door opened and Mickey came through. The bastard smirked at the exhaustion that Ian knew was on his face so he just went up, pressed a quick kiss to his lips before hitting him.

  “You look after them now, I’m going on a run with Bear. Love you,” he said, his turn to smirk.

  He couldn’t wait for the terrible twos stage to be over.


End file.
